Always Remember
by KatLeePT
Summary: Lucy still remembers. Possible AU.


"Oh, Lucy!" Susan laughed in the sound of voice that always made Lucy cringe whenever she had to listen to it for it always meant the same thing: the person to whom she was talking thought she was a loon. "You have such a vivid imagination!"

Lucy frowned at her older sister. "Don't you remember?" she asked, looking up from the silverware and plates she'd just set out on her table.

"You say that as though your stories truly happened, little sister!"

"They did."

"Ha! Imagine the four of us running around in a snowy woodland filled with all sorts of fantastic creatures and a talking lion!"

"Aslan is much more than just a talking lion, Susan Pevensie, and you know it!" Lucy exclaimed hotly. "He died to save our lives! You know this! You were there!"

Lucy watched her sister in shock as she set down the pan she had been carrying and quickly covered her youngest child's ears. "I've not gone by that name for a long time now, Lucy; you know that. I'm married now." Switching her attention to her children, she instructed her eldest, "Lucielle, go find your brother. It's time for dinner." Then her eyes narrowed at Lucy. "As for you, I will _not_ have you making up such imaginary stories around my children and then pretending as though they are real! I will not partake in your games, sister, not any longer. I'm an adult now."

Lucy stared at her, aghast. "You . . . You really don't remember, do you?" she asked in a tiny, still voice.

"Of course I don't remember something that never happened!"

"Oh, Susan! Susan, I . . . I had no idea! You've really lost your memories? Aslan warned me this might happen."

"Aslan isn't real!"

"Stop saying that! He is real! You loved him once just like I do!"

"No, I didn't, Lucy. None of that stuff happened! It's not possible!" She sighed. "Look, I'm sorry to have to burst your bubble, but whereas it may be okay for you to still indulge in childhood fantasies, I am a respectable mother of three, and I must set an example for my children." She looked again at her daughter, who was staring, wide-eyed, at her aunt and mother. "Go get Richard, Lucielle."

"Yes, Mom," she said after a moment more. As she searched through the flat for him, Lucy sat down hard in the nearest chair. She shook her head while continuing to stare at her older sister. "I'm sorry, Susan. Really, I am."

"There's nothing to be sorry about, Luce. Your fantasies just get the better of you sometimes," Susan remarked, lifting her hands from her daughter's ears. "That's one of the things we've always loved about you, you know." She smiled. "No matter what else is going on in our lives, your stories have always been such wild fun that we could forget everything else for a little while."

"But they're not stories," Lucy whispered to herself as Susan, not hearing her, turned back to her cooking.

"Mom! MOM!" Lucielle screeched minutes later.

"What is it, Lucielle?" Susan demanded, grasping her daughter's shoulders as she ran into the kitchen.

"It's Richard, Mom! You've got to come quick! He's playing in the street, and he won't listen to me and come!"

"Oh, dear Lord!" Susan cried, looking aghast. "Stay with your sister." Lucielle held her baby sister still against her as the women rushed out of the kitchen.

"RICHARD! RICHARD, COME HERE THIS INSTANT! OH, GOD! NO!"

Lucy whirled around from shutting the door Susan had left hanging open to see a carriage barreling down on the unsuspecting boy, who was still playing with his marbles. He looked up at his mother's last scream just as the horses reared. Lucy grabbed her sister before she could rush into the street and be struck, as well, and at the same time, she prayed with all her heart. What happened next only two people saw, but it filled them both with awe.

An enormous, golden lion raced into the street. Ever so gently, his teeth closed around the collar of the boy's white shirt, and then, as quick as a bolt of lightning, he darted over the road and to the two women, both of whom had helped him so much in the past and one who would never stop believing. He deposited the boy at his mother's feet.

"Aslan!" Lucy cried, weeping, as Susan fell to her knees and gathered her son to her. "Thank you! Thank you!" But Aslan was already gone, having disappeared as swiftly as he had first appeared.

Lucy turned to Susan. "Did you see him, Susan? Did you?" But Susan appeared not to be listening as she checked her son over several times and finally looked up when the shaken carriage driver approached her.

"Is he all right, ma'am? I swear I didn't see him."

Lucy's face fell. The driver hadn't seen Aslan, and neither had her sister. She was still the only one of her family who continued to believe in Him, but she would never doubt Him. She would never turn from Him, no matter what any one else said, and would always believe in and love Him.

Susan handled everything with a calm grace. She accepted the driver's apology and invited him in for dinner, although they had little to eat. She set through the whole meal without showing any evidence of what she had seen, but constantly still fussing over young Richard. It was only long after dinner, after the children had retired to their rooms to get ready for bed, her husband had gone into the sitting room and lit his pipe, and the driver had left, that Susan finally turned to her little sister. There were tears in her eyes when she confessed, "I saw Him."

"You did? Oh, Susan, you really did?!"

"Yes, Luce, I saw Him." She dabbed at her moist eyes with a lacy handkerchief. "How could I have forgotten Him, Lucy?"

"Aslan said it would happen," Lucy told her. "Try not to blame yourself, Susan. He said you would forget Him. He said we all would."

"But you haven't."

"I cling to my childhood. I refuse to grow up." A tremulous smile passed over her lips. "As long as I don't fall sway to the adult world, I won't forget Him."

"Perhaps it is better not to surrender the things of childhood if it means not forgetting Him."

"But you already have, Susan. You have a whole 'nother family now. I fear it's only a matter of time before you forget Him again."

"Help me remember Him, sister? Please? I can't bare the thought of ever forgetting Him again. Not only did He save us and the whole of Narnia when we were children, but He's now saved my child."

Lucy hugged her tightly. "I'll help you remember," she promised. "He's saved us all, but, Susan, somehow I know He'll not hold your forgetting against you."

"But I don't want to forget. I want to remember always!"

"Me, too, sister dear." They hugged tightly, but in her heart, Lucy knew Susan would forget again. By the time she would come to visit her sister again, she would have grown older still and more mature and forgotten Aslan, Narnia, and all they experienced therein once again. She dabbed at her eyes. Susan might forget. She _would_ forget, but Lucy was now more determined than ever before that she would not forget. She'd write down all their journeys. She'd write everything they experienced, and if need be, she would read it daily. She would never forget Aslan. She would never grow up. She would always be His Queen and He, her Lord.

The End


End file.
